Thanks to Zero Tolerance magazine for this awesome Alunah review from when we played with The Wounded Kings, Witchsorrow and Huata at The Garage, London back in May.

"As i walk into the confines of the upstairs room at the Garage I'm immediately stopped in my tracks by the epic soulful sound of Alunah in full flight. The perfectly ponderous riffs roll out from the stage in waves while wonderful wailing leads circle overhead and hammering drum beats sit behind like portentous thunder clouds. The deep, rumbling grooves of their set fall silent all too quickly but its still a magnificent start to the evening"

What is the name of your band? AlunahWhat is alloy name "Alunah" For? We originally were called Aluna but due to another band having the same name, and them owning the copyright, we had to change it. Aluna meant many things, but mainly had links to the goddess and the moon. The "h" was added so as to retain the pronunciation.

What made you start playing music?I come from a musical background, and have been playing instruments since I was 7 years old. It's a great way to express yourself, and after having a particularly bad day, really helps to ease tension.

What made you start a band?We all came together due to a mutual love of music, specifically stoner/doom music. We got together to have a jam, and we enjoyed it so much that we decided to start the band. Dave our guitarist was already in two other bands at the time, and he was looking for a different sounding band to satisfy his many musical tastes.What was the plan when you started the band? We wanted to write great music, that first and foremost we enjoyed, if anyone else enjoyed it then that was a bonus. The idea of getting out in front of audiences and meeting new people excited us, and of course we wanted to get signed and release an album!

When did you start off band?We began in the summer of 2006, and have just celebrated 6 years together.

Where have you played from 2006 to 2013?We have played all over England, as well as in France, Germany, Poland and Denmark. We're also very lucky to have played with bands who we consider to be our inspirations such as Paradise Lost, Trouble, High on Fire, Acid King, Witchcraft, Saint Vitus, Orange Goblin and Fu Manchu.

Each was led first gig?Our first gig was in Coventry, in a pub called The Golden Cross. We played to about 5 people, and I was absolutely petrified!

Where were off last gig?Our last gig was in our local city of Birmingham, England. It was Dan's (our new bassist) first gig and we played with the legendary Karma to Burn.

Each was led most promising gig?I think for sheer size and positive audience feedback, our best gigs have been DesertFest Berlin, and also supporting Fu Manchu in Wolverhampton. Although, my personal favourites (aside from the two mentioned) were when we played Szczecin, Poland and Paris, France - the audiences were amazing and I was genuinely moved by their response.

How many people usually come to your gig?Really depends, a lot more people came out to see us over in Europe recently. It can be difficult in England, I think because it is such a small country, with a rich underground music scene, getting massive turn outs at the gigs can be uncertain because there is always something else going on 5 minutes away. However, the past year has seen us getting bigger crowds over here, so we hope that continues to rise.

Where do you plan to play the rest of the year?We're playing gigs with Mammoth Mammoth in Wolverhampton, Samsara Blues Experiment in London, Benson Griffin (Victor Griffin of Pentagram) in Wolverhampton, and Hard Rock Hell in North Wales. We're also headlining some great doom gigs in Wakefield, Leicester and Bournemouth. Our full listings can be found here: http://www.alunah.co.uk/gigs.html we're hoping to get back over to Europe next year.

What you drive for music style?We play what sounds good to us. We don't try and go after a certain musical style, we don't want it to sound forced and that's probably why there is a lot of influences in our songs. We want to sound like Alunah, no-one else.

What made you start with just "Doom Psychedelia"?That's a tag that got applied to us, originally it was "psych, blues, doom" because I don't think people could pigeon hole us. We love doom, we love psychedelia, we love classic rock, and we love a lot of stoner bands so all of those shine through.

What are your songs about?The main theme that runs through our songs is that of nature, whether it's the stories behind the seasons ("Demeter's Grief"), the healing power of nature ("White Hoarhound") or the powerful wonder of nature ("Oak Ritual"). I'm focusing more on England's Wiccan and Pagan history with the new album, but the central theme will always be nature, as that is where my interest lies.

Do you own songs or covers?We write all of our own songs. The only song we have ever covered is Pentragram's "Forever My Queen" but we never play that now.

Who writes the songs? / Who does the music?We all do. I write all of the lyrics and the vocal melodies. Dave mainly writes the riffs, but Dan and I have been having riffs input with the new album. We all arrange the songs, and work them out together.

Who has the best humor?I think we all have a good sense of humour - we have twisted humour which I don't think a lot of people get, but luckily Dan has fitted in quite nicely with us. We've just spent 2 weeks driving across Europe together, and if you don't have a sense of humour, you're going to crumble!

Good and bad sides of the band?I don't think there are many bad things, apart from when Dave and Jake have had a curry and stink the whole room out! We're all really good mates (Dave and I are married), so if anyone's having an off day we sense it and we don't let it affect anything. If any arguments do happen, they last 5 minutes and then forgotten. Between us we handle all of the UK booking, website, store, design, marketing, social network sites, t-shirt printing etc and we work really well together. That's what makes us so passionate about the band, we work really hard and want to see the hard work paying off.

Where are you from?Between us we live in Brownhills, Solihull and Rugby.

What is your name? / Who plays what? / How old are you?Sophie Day: Vocals and GuitarDavid Day: GuitarDan Burchmore: BassJake Mason: DrumsWe're in our 20s and 30s.

What are your role models before?Personally, vocal-wise I'm inspired by Janis Joplin and Robert Plant. Lori S (Acid King) and Tairrie B (Manhole / Tura Satana / My Ruin) were the ones who made me want to start a band.

What inspires you?The earth, wicca, history and folk stories.

Where is most common that you play?Due to it being local, we play a lot in Birmingham but we play everywhere and anywhere!

What are your plans for the future?We're writing our 3rd album at the moment, are looking into a late November tour, and are due to be working on some European dates in 2014, as well as a UK tour which should have happened this year but has been postponed. More news about that will be on our website when it is announced.

Alunah are proud to be featured on Doommantia Vol.2 which aims to raise money for Ed Barnard who has lost everything he owns in American due to rising extortionate medical bills. He is now in Australia trying to rebuild his life, and get the medical care he so desperately needs. For just $10 you get 82 bands over 9 hours, making it the biggest doom compilation ever put together, and shows the massive amount of love for Ed from the underground community. When Alunah began, Ed was the first reviewer to write about us and spread the word amongst the underground. At the time we were very much getting slated by certain magazines, websites, and on forums so Ed really helped us out. He is still homeless so hopefully sales of this compilation will get him back on his feet, and return all of the help he gave us. Ed's reviews and interviews can be read here: